Chapter 55: That Look Like He Was Trash…
“Oh? A rare guest.”
Gu Qingxu happened to run into Lu Ji as he walked in, and let out a light laugh.
The newest hot topic in their circle recently was the multi-layered outsourcing murder plot Nie Ying had stirred up. The target had been the person standing right in front of him. Afterwards, Nie Runhua had issued an emergency PR statement, claiming that the real culprit was Lu Ran and that it had nothing to do with his own child.
“What brings you here? Doesn’t seem like the right timing for a friendly visit,” Gu Qingxu said. He didn’t have much interaction with Lu Ji, but since the ready-made victim was standing here, he didn’t mind casually enjoying some gossip.
Who knew what kind of feng shui it was lately—juicy scandals in their circle had been popping up nonstop, each more dramatic than the last.
Lu Ji quickly sorted through the information about the man in front of him.
Second young master of the Gu family, Gu Qingxu. Close with Nie Ying. Basically the same type as Nie Ying. Which meant—an idiot.
Having completed that mental equivalence, Lu Ji directly added Gu Qingxu to his blacklist.
He didn’t even bother acknowledging the obvious look of amusement on Gu Qingxu’s face.
The servant had already announced his arrival. Not long after, Gu Yang came down from upstairs.
“Are you here to see me?” Gu Yang asked. Since he was at home, he was only wearing a thin set of pajamas, wrapped in a black-and-white knitted blanket.
Lu Ji hesitated, then nodded.
Although he had walked over in a daze, he really did have something he wanted to ask Gu Yang.
“I see.” Gu Yang thought for a moment and pointed upstairs. “Let’s talk in my room.”
Lu Ji had been hoping for a more private space anyway. After changing into indoor shoes, he was about to follow when Gu Qingxu let out a cold laugh.
“Are you addicted to bringing people into your room?”
Lu Ji paused mid-step and looked at him in confusion.
“I didn’t know you’d gotten so close with this new arrival from the Lu family,” Gu Qingxu said. Already annoyed at being ignored earlier, he let it all out at once. “Or is it that you just bring anyone into your room?”
Faced with the sudden accusation, Gu Yang expressionlessly replayed what he had just said in his mind.
He was pretty sure he had said his own room. Not that he was going to jump onto Gu Qingxu’s bed in his shoes.
He lifted his head and looked at Gu Qingxu with the kind of gaze reserved for idiots.
Lu Ji was even more puzzled.
He truly didn’t understand how entering Gu Yang’s room had offended Gu Qingxu.
Then he remembered that this person was friends with Nie Ying and felt slightly enlightened.
Birds of a feather flock together.
But no matter what, this was still Gu Yang’s younger brother. Lu Ji couldn’t let Gu Yang’s family become discordant because of him.
“It’s almost dinner time. I’d like to treat you to a meal outside. Would that be okay?” he suggested, finding a compromise.
Gu Yang hesitated and glanced at the darkening sky outside, pulling the blanket tighter around himself.
He actually didn’t want to go out. But after some mental preparation, he reluctantly nodded and went back upstairs to change.
Lu Ji waited downstairs. During that time, Gu Qingxu never left.
Lu Ji had thought the proposal to eat outside would improve Gu Qingxu’s mood.
It didn’t.
Gu Qingxu’s expression grew even more mocking. He didn’t even bother hiding it anymore, openly scanning Lu Ji up and down as if comparing something.
After the chaos at the Lu house earlier, Lu Ji was already exhausted. He had no energy left to deal with Gu Qingxu.
Finally unable to endure that gaze, he lifted his head coldly and was about to retort when, at the last second, realization struck.
His expression turned strange. “Gu Yang doesn’t let you into his room, does he?”
Gu Qingxu’s face stiffened. He let out an incredulous laugh.
Leaning against the railing, he sneered several times in a row, about to say something when Gu Yang, now changed, came down the stairs and brushed past him.
“Let’s go.”
Lu Ji nodded, and the two left together.
Lu Ji chose a restaurant with private rooms. The waiter handed over the menu. Gu Yang didn’t even glance at his before closing it and gesturing for Lu Ji to order.
That made things harder.
He didn’t know what Gu Yang liked to eat. Pretending to browse the menu, he secretly messaged He Ming’an under the table for help.
The reply came almost instantly: “Anything is fine (^_^) .”
The phrase Lu Ji hated most in life was anything is fine.
He took a slow breath. Guessing He Ming’an was messing with him, he simply asked the waiter to recommend a few signature dishes and placed the order.
When the waiter left, only the two of them remained in the private room.
Lu Ji had intended to exchange a few pleasantries first, but after rummaging through his vocabulary and finding nothing suitable, he smiled helplessly and went straight to the point.
“Lu Ran has been kicked out of the Lu family. He’s been sent back to where he originally came from.”
At that, Gu Yang’s drifting gaze finally focused on him.
“Nie Ying claimed Lu Ran asked him to cause trouble for me. They originally planned to cripple one of my legs.” Lu Ji’s eyes turned cold. “Unfortunately for them, things didn’t go according to plan.”
“But that alone wasn’t enough to completely remove Lu Ran.”
After everything he had experienced, he was already numb to the coldness of his parents. If the whip didn’t land on them, they felt no pain.
Looking into Gu Yang’s eyes, he said clearly, “If you hadn’t given me those records of Lu Ran secretly selling company secrets, I wouldn’t have been able to bring him down so quickly.”
“But Gu Yang… why did you help me?”
As he said it, his gaze wavered.
He was no longer afraid of malice.
But unprovoked kindness left him helpless.
Gu Yang rested his elbow on the armrest, propping up his cheek with one hand, staring absentmindedly at the teacup in front of him.
“It was nothing. Just convenient.”
Lu Ji naturally didn’t accept that answer.
He knew Gu Yang wasn’t ordinary.
From the first day in Class Eleven, when overhearing Gu Yang’s thoughts had shattered and rebuilt his worldview, that fact had been branded into his mind.
It wasn’t just that he could hear them. Those thoughts contained information he didn’t know—sometimes even things from the future.
Through that, he had glimpsed a corner of his unfortunate destiny. He had broken free from unrealistic expectations of the Lu family and seized the chance to strike first.
Invisibly, he already owed Gu Yang a great deal.
But that had all been passive.
He truly didn’t understand why Gu Yang would actively investigate and help him deal with Lu Ran.
Xie Wu helped because he was righteous by nature.
But looking at Gu Yang, Lu Ji couldn’t connect him with righteousness at all.
Was it simply that he didn’t understand him well enough?
While he was still tangled in thought, Gu Yang’s inner voice sounded again.
[Good. It’s finally resolved. No more of that frustrating plot where the fake young master occupies the nest while the real one gets beaten and driven out.]
[In the original plot, Lu Ran’s selling of company secrets was later discovered by Lu Zhenxing. But at the time, Lu Zheng helped cover it up and even shifted the blame onto Lu Ji.]
[Lu Ji had just had his leg broken by Nie Ying’s men, then was thrown out of the house in the middle of the night by Lu Zhenxing—without even a coat.]
[That night, Jiang City saw its first snowfall. In the swirling snow, Lu Ji walked forward, hungry and freezing, his unhealed leg bone sending piercing pain through him.]
[He didn’t even manage to bring a crutch. Losing his balance, he fell into the snow. He scrambled up in humiliation, not knowing where to go, standing on the roadside in despair until dawn broke.]
Gu Yang even casually recited a paragraph from the original text.
Lu Ji: “……”
Even the Little Match Girl could at least strike a match in the freezing snow.
He just endured it raw like that?
Why didn’t he just freeze to death then?
It was so absurd he couldn’t even feel sorry for himself.
What was that supposed to be?
Still, he caught the key information.
Lu Ran had colluded with Lu Zheng to dump the blame on him.
During his days at the Lu house, Lu Zheng had seemed the most rational and calm. But Lu Ji could tell it wasn’t fairness—it was self-interest. Everything revolved around his own benefit.
Lu Zheng didn’t truly care about Lu Ran either. He was simply complying with their parents to avoid trouble.
Helping Lu Ran cover it up likely served two purposes: securing leverage over him and conveniently suppressing Lu Ji—after all, he too was a child of the Lu family, with equal inheritance rights…
Wait.
Lu Ji’s body stilled. It felt like piercing through darkness and finally seeing light.
Even if Lu Ran was gone, he was already disillusioned with the Lu family and wanted to distance himself.
But that wasn’t enough.
Even if he distanced himself, they would continue living comfortably. His withdrawal would punish no one.
He carried the Lu family’s blood. Everything they had should include his share.
Rather than waiting for his parents’ nonexistent conscience to awaken someday, he might as well take everything into his own hands and never again depend on anyone’s pity.
The more he thought, the clearer his path became. A faint light appeared in his eyes.
Dish after dish was served.
Gu Yang picked up his chopsticks and glanced at Lu Ji. His eyes were unusually bright now, a vibrant life force breaking through his hardened shell and radiating outward.
Like a seed buried underground for years finally sprouting.
That vitality even brushed against him, warming his cold fingertips.
How nice.
Those were the only three words that appeared in his mind.
When Ying Jiayi had returned with a radiant smile, he had felt the same way.
Her originally unfortunate fate had changed.
Because something diverged from the original plot, he had called to check on her and casually asked why she suddenly decided to investigate her father.
She had told him seriously that it was because of his remark that a kept husband was no good—that single sentence had suddenly made everything clear.
Was such a huge change really triggered by something so trivial he had said?
At first, he had only found it interesting.
From a bystander’s—no, a god’s—perspective, he had observed the fates of everyone in the book. He had been too detached to feel anything real.
But something had begun to change.
They both ate absentmindedly.
After making his decision, Lu Ji no longer felt lost.
He still hadn’t figured out why Gu Yang helped him, nor had he received a real answer.
But he had already made peace with it.
As long as he climbed high enough and seized control of the Lu Group, he would have opportunities to repay him.
After eating, Lu Ji planned to escort Gu Yang home. Too much had happened recently. It gave him the uneasy feeling that Jiang City’s public security wasn’t very good these days.
And he wasn’t wrong.
Because only a few steps after leaving the restaurant, they saw Nie Ying head-on.
Nie Ying irritably lit another cigarette.
He was waiting for someone.
His biological mother.
After leaving the Lu house, Nie Runhua hadn’t bothered to maintain even a moment of goodwill. Already pushed to his limits by Madam Nie insisting on divorce and by pressure within the company from his younger brother’s overt and covert attacks, he had exploded.
And at such a time, his troublesome son had created a scandal of this magnitude, turning the Nie family into dinner-table gossip once again.
Nie Ying had no intention of empathizing with his father’s difficulties. Used to being indulged, even when scolded or beaten, he only felt his anger flare higher.
He didn’t want to go home for now—didn’t want to become a punching bag for Nie Runhua’s bad mood.
Yet the more vulnerable he felt, the more he craved care.
His parents couldn’t give it. The yes-men at home couldn’t either.
Unknowingly, he arrived at the entrance of a residential complex.
Realizing where he was, he found it absurdly laughable. Yet his feet felt rooted.
Normally, he would find such a shabby place dirty even to pass by.
But his biological mother lived there.
The last time they met, she had mentioned it in passing.
He hadn’t meant to remember.
Nie Ying shook his head self-mockingly.
His pride wouldn’t allow him to call her and announce his arrival. That would make it seem like he had come begging.
So he stayed, leaning against the wall, smoking one cigarette after another to pass the time.
After who knew how long, someone walked out.
The moment he caught sight of that figure, his eyes locked on, revealing hope he didn’t even realize he held.
He brushed the ash from his clothes, straightened up, adjusted his appearance, and prepared to casually approach her as if by coincidence.
He still remembered the small restaurant she had taken him to last time. Thinking she probably had never been to a high-end restaurant in her life, and since it was still early and he hadn’t eaten, he decided he might as well treat her to something better.
Convincing himself, he stepped forward.
Then he stopped.
Behind the woman, a little girl around four or five years old, with twin pigtails, skipped out.
The woman held the girl’s hand, her face carrying a gentle, doting smile he had never seen before.
“Mommy,” the girl called brightly.
The word rang clearly in the night, declaring their relationship—and shattering Nie Ying’s final illusion.
His eyes turned bloodshot.
Why?
Why would even his biological mother betray him?
Overwhelming anger made it impossible to think clearly. He rushed forward, blocking the woman’s path.
The little girl had stopped at a toy stall, gazing longingly at glowing sticks.
A dark shadow fell over her. Before she could react, the stall was kicked over.
The glow sticks scattered across the ground. The vendor screamed.
The little girl turned blankly and saw a tall figure looming like a demon before her.
She burst into tears.
Hearing her fragile sobs, Nie Ying’s expression didn’t soften. The hostility in his eyes deepened, his size alone enough to frighten bystanders.
Hu Xian was terrified. She rushed forward to stop him, nails digging into his flesh. “What are you doing?!”
The gentleness she once carried was gone. She looked sharp and fierce.
Seeing that only made Nie Ying’s chest ache more. He shoved her away. She slammed into a lamppost but staggered back.
During their struggle, the little girl, still confused, kept backing up until she bumped into something.
Gu Yang crouched halfway down and caught her before she fell.
The girl must have been truly frightened. She wrapped her arms around Gu Yang’s neck and buried her face against him.
Gu Yang stiffened, awkward.
He had always held a respectful distance from high-energy, boundary-less human children and had never interacted closely.
Now he could only carefully lift her, relieved that such a small bean sprout wasn’t heavy.
Having shaken off the woman, Nie Ying’s blood-red eyes turned toward them.
Lu Ji supported the woman and subtly positioned himself half in front of Gu Yang.
If he wasn’t mistaken, Nie Ying was about to lose it completely.
Gu Yang was still adjusting his hold on the child, but his disdain toward Nie Ying didn’t diminish in the slightest.
He curved his lips into a faint, mocking smile. There was no warmth in his eyes—only cold indifference, as if looking at trash.
Nie Ying met his gaze coldly.
Looking at that smile, he suddenly answered a question he had never consciously asked himself.
Why did he hate Gu Yang so much?
That expression—smiling because he looked down on him…
It was exactly like Madam Nie’s.
